The Moon Cries
by mlw217
Summary: Set after the episode "Skin". I know there are a lot of these, but I really liked this episode. Please review!
1. Chapter 1

The Moon Cries

Disclaimer: I do not own ER. :D

Her body shook, cold biting at every inch of her skin, even penetrating her blood-soaked green scrubs. Tears streamed from her wide, petrified eyes and she couldn't move. Her feet were nailed to the damp concrete as she watched the black SUV screech away. In her mind, the events played over and over, screaming in her ears. Her fists clenched as she slowly turned around, seeing the flashing red-blue lights from an ambulance. Fear boiled in her stomach and she swallowed the reappearing lump in her throat, her arms straight against her side. As she took the first step toward the ambulance bay, her breathing grew shallow. Her heart hammered painfully in her chest and she sped her walking to a terrified jog, making her screams silent. She sped by puddles to about two feet from the ambulance. Abby still couldn't shake the ice-cold fear that was pulling her down to her knees. She dropped and put her hands on the ground, sobs coming out despite the voice in her head protesting the vulnerable emotions showing.

"Hey, ma'am. Are you alright?" A concerned voice cut through the night's silence and a warm, caring hand was on her back. The darkness closed in around her head and Abby flinched away from the human contact.

"No! Please don't." She yelled. Abby immediately sat up, putting her hands out in front of her for protection.

"Abby?! Oh my gosh!" Susan's horrified eyes met with Abby's streaming and fearful ones. "What the...Abby, is that your blood?!" Susan stared, shocked at the bloody scene in front of her. Abby blinked her eyes and fell silent, her cries completely stopped. Her eyes focused on something in the distance and Susan's hands shook Abby's shoulders. Tears formed in Susan's guilty eyes. While she had been griping about Abby leaving her shift, she had actually been hurt.

"Help! Someone!!" Susan's voice cracked with emotion as she yelled for anyone. She couldn't just leave Abby alone out here. She took her cell phone out and dialed the County General number. Frank's annoyed, gruff voice answered.

"County General, how can I direct your call?"

"Frank, this is Susan. Is there anyone by you?" Her voice was shocked and shaking.

"Uhh...yeah, here's Pratt." He was very curious to know what was wrong with Dr. Lewis.

"Hey, this is Pratt." His charming tone was wondering.

"Pratt! Get out to the ambulance bay! Now!" Pratt pulled the phone away from his ear and threw it down, running out through the sliding doors. He had no idea what to make of Dr. Lewis' pained voice so he just ran as fast as he could to the emergency outside of the hospital. Susan put her hand on Abby's face, trying to get a response from her. The only thing she saw were the tears streaming silently from Abby's eyes. Carefully and fearfully Susan moved Abby's hands from her abdomen. She lifted the bloody scrubs hurriedly in fear of an injury. Her stomach dropped as she saw a terrible knife wound and blood seeping from the penetrating wound. Tears spilled over as Susan put pressure on Abby's stomach.

"It's ok, Abby. You're going to be fine." Susan's voice was small and terrified. Saying this was more for her than Abby. She couldn't believe what was happening as she held a shaking, bloody Abby. Susan looked up and saw Pratt come through the double doors.

"Pratt!" Susan's voice cracked with emotion.

"What the... What happened?" Pratt's eyes were wide and watered in disbelief. He saw Abby, the strongest woman he knew, staring blankly straight ahead with blood nearly pouring from her abdomen. He immediately became urgent and scooped her up, running into the hospital.

_Please review!!!! Tell me if you want me to continue! I always thought that this episode: "Skin" had so much more potential. It seemed that right after they had finished the amazing episode, they just dropped the story and ended it. REVIEW!!!_

_--soccergirlmich--_


	2. Chapter 2

The Moon Cries

Disclaimer: I, unfortunately, do not own ER. :D

Pratt ran inside, not even paying attention to the many stares and gasps of horror around the ER staff. Susan ran in front of him, throwing the double doors of the first trauma room open. Susan had grabbed Sam, Chuny, Neela, and Kerry on the way to Trauma 1. Pratt laid Abby down on the bed gently and ran around to get supplies. Susan yelled out orders, shocking the others out of their trances. They shook it off and rushed around Abby's nearly lifeless body. Abby's eyes were still open and she was unresponsive. Kerry tried to take charge, but Susan spoke over her with tears falling silently down her face. Weaver's brows drew together and she let Dr. Lewis to take over with a concerned look on her face. She quickly moved around to check Abby's wound. Everyone stopped as Weaver examined Abby's abdomen. There was a long gash running across her stomach and it looked impossibly deep. They couldn't believe that something like this had happened. Suddenly, Luka walked in with a terrified and emotional look in his eyes and that snapped everyone out of their silence.

"She's in shock!" Susan continued shouting orders as they got Abby on different monitors. Dr. Corday walked hurriedly through the doors after Luka with a mixture of shock and determination on her face.

"What happened?" She had forced her tone to be professional, but her voice cracked with emotion. She blinked away the horror and focused on the answer to her question.

"I was leaving for the night...and I saw her on the ground. She was terrified and I couldn't get a response from her. I don't know what happened. Only she can tell us." They all looked from Susan to Abby with curious stares. Susan's voice was tortured and she couldn't believe that all this time she had been angry with Abby for leaving her shift. Abby hadn't left the hospital...Susan gritted her teeth and shook the guilt off for the moment. Dr. Corday looked at the monitors and gave a couple of instructions to Chuny and Sam. Sam's face was full of determination, but there was a small hint of sorrow and fear peeking through her eyes. She nodded at Corday and followed out her order. Chuny was a mess, but she pushed through it and grabbed the ambu mask, ready. Abby's eyes were now closed and she was even more unresponsive because of the massive blood loss. Neela ran to the phone and ordered type specific from the blood bank with haste. There was no time to lose. This was their colleague and friend's life on the line.

Susan glanced to Luka and wished she hadn't. Luka's eyes were soft and pained and his neck muscles flexed with fear. She saw that he was holding her hand gingerly and closed his eyes. His mouth was moving and she could barely hear unintelligible words coming out of his mouth. He was praying for her in Croatian. When he stopped, he looked up and caught Susan staring at him. He quickly hardened his eyes and glanced at the monitor, which he followed with commands for Neela and Sam, who was squeezing the ambu mask with everything she had. Sam held Abby's life in her hands and she was going to do everything she could to keep her alive. Abby had grown to be Sam's friend and she cared for her. She had hung out with her and Susan outside of work and had grown to like them. They were her friends and if she couldn't save one of her friends, then she didn't know why she was a nurse. These thoughts moved around in her head as she squeezed the mask like she was listening to a metronome.

Neela had run in hastily, holding the type specific blood for Abby and she quickly handed them to Sam and Chuny, who proceeded to hook them up for a transfusion. She was again taken aback by the scene on the trauma bed in front of her. It was a very bloody sight as her friends continued to try and stop the bleeding. "She needs a chest tube!" Luka yelled this and Corday was on it. She got the tray from Chuny and began her work, focusing on the details of the procedure so she wouldn't be distracted by the patient and her emotions.

"Got it!" Corday's English accent was positive and energized the group of doctors and nurses to life again. Sam shouted out Abby's improving vitals and there was a little relief in the room until they suddenly dropped and the stomach's of everyone followed suit. Susan swore loudly and yelled out.

"Her lung collapsed! Get me the tray!" Susan grabbed the tools and worked on repairing the problem. Nothing but the medical process ran through her mind and sooner than anyone thought, she had finished and Abby's vitals rose again, holding steady. Everyone sighed and looked to Dr. Corday.

"Alright. Sam, Chuny and I will take her up to surgery. Neela, call it up there and tell them who the patient is, give them my name, and the extent of the damage so they can have it ready for me." She was out of breath and the three of them rolled Abby out rapidly, leaving all of the other bloody staff members, besides Neela, in the trauma room as silence filled the air.

In the trauma room, no one moved or spoke for over five minutes. The silence was deafening and piercing. Dr. Chen and Carter walked in with somber eyes that changed to horror as they drank in the scene. The silence was gone as they all parted ways, throwing their gloves on the floor and all with one person on their mind: Abby.......

_Thank you guys for the wonderful reviews! Please keep them coming! The more I get, the faster I update!!! :D _

_--soccergirlmich--_


	3. Chapter 3

The Moon Cries

Disclaimer: I don't own ER...

Susan walked out of the trauma room like a zombie. She held disbelief and guilt in her eyes and she tried to focus on her every step, not even knowing where she was headed to. Ray Barnett grabbed Susan's shoulder with concern in his eyes.

"Dr. Lewis, why's this place such a ghost town? It's like someone died." He chuckled and waited for an answer. Susan returned his question with a blank stare and Ray was taken aback. "No one....died...right?" His tone was immediately apologetic and fearful. Susan didn't think she could bring herself to say. She glanced down and whispered; Ray was intently listening with his full attention.

"Abby was hurt.....She's in surgery." With that, Susan felt tears spilling over and she walked briskly to the bathroom, leaving a shocked Ray standing in the hallway. When Susan got into the bathroom, she ran to one of the stalls and shut the door. She ran her hands through her hair and wiped the tears from her eyes. She couldn't believe what was happening. Susan had just gotten authority, like she wanted...and when she tried to exercise it, she went overboard on Abby. Of all people she could have yelled at, it had to be Abby. She had yelled at her best friend and now Abby was fighting for her life. She felt that it was all her fault. Susan tried to imagine scenarios that had Abby hurt, but couldn't and didn't want to think of anything. All day she was irritated and slightly angry at Abby for 'leaving' her shift. Abby hadn't left at all and Susan felt strongly that she could have done something to prevent this. She shook her head and wondered how Abby was doing in surgery.

***

Luka sat, his blank stare frozen in place as he sat in the doctor's lounge. He just kept seeing Abby, lying there on the trauma bed with blood everywhere. The trauma played over and over in his mind and he wiped the moisture from his eyes. Then, Sam walked in, with her own far-off gaze. She blinked and looked at Luka with concern and sorrow in her eyes.

"Luka." She whispered into the dark lounge. She sat next to him on the couch in silence for a couple of minutes. She and Luka weren't together anymore, but they were still close and cared a lot for each other. Sam knew that Luka and Abby had recently gotten back together and that he had never and would never stop loving her. She could see that he was holding back all of his emotions so that he wouldn't break down. She whispered his name again before she began.

"She's going to be fine. I heard that she's almost out of surgery." There was hope in her voice that she trusted was not lost on Luka. "Abby's strong. You know she'll be okay." Sam knew that if she kept talking, he would talk to her. "Luka." Luka looked up at her with tortured eyes and closed them in agony. Sam's brows drew together and she gritted her teeth. It hurt her to see him this way. She gathered him into a hug and whispered encouraging words to him. Sam knew Luka better than almost anyone and she knew that after this sad and hopelessness stage, came the anger stage. She definitely didn't want to be whoever did this to Abby when that stage came around.

***

Chuny sat at the admin desk with a somber look in her eyes. Today, County wasn't very busy and she was grateful for that. They all needed some time and to know that Abby was going to be alright. She and the staff weren't only worried about her physical well-being, but the emotional aftermath as well. They didn't know what happened to her and they weren't quite sure they wanted to know. Haleh walked up next to her and patted her shoulder, pulling out of her thoughts.

"Have you heard any news about Abby?" Haleh's caring voice cut through the eerie silence of the admin desk. Chuny smiled sadly and shook her head.

"Have you? Everyone has been dying to know if she's going to be alright." She shook her head solemnly.

"No. I'm worried sick, though. What kind of a person would hurt her?" Her voice was sad as she proceeded to pick some charts up and check on her patients. Just then, Kerry Weaver walked in and went through some charts.

"Jerry, any news about Abby?" Her voice was unusually quiet and non-authority like. Jerry shook his head and looked down at the ground, worried just like everyone else. Weaver nodded and walked off without even a hint of an order of any kind, leaving the remaining staff dumbfounded at Weaver's weird behavior.

***

Two men in uniform from the police department strolled, dutifully through the ambulance bay doors and to the admin desk. "Excuse me. Where can I find someone in charge?" The taller and younger one said. Jerry looked up and nodded looking around.

"Uhh...Dr. Lewis." Jerry called to Susan, who had just exited the bathroom, and she walked slowly to the desk.

"Yes, Jerry." Her voice was dead.

"These two officers need to speak with someone in charge. That would be you." Jerry shrugged to her and walked to the opposite end of the desk, dealing with some paperwork. Susan turned to them and waited for an explanation of why they needed her. She was growing impatient with their silence and she cleared her throat at them.

"Oh! Dr. Lewis, we need to speak with Dr. Abigail Lockhart about what happened to her earlier tonight. We need to write a report so we can catch whoever did this to her." The short, bald man spoke this time, with more authority and confidence.

"I'm sorry. She's in surgery right now. You'll have to come back later." She decided to go with the simple answer.

"We'll just wait around here, then. You tell us if she wakes up. Thanks, Doc." The tall, dark-haired man smiled and winked at her as they went back to the waiting room. Susan shook her head and sighed.

***

Dr. Corday took a deep breath as she finished Abby's surgery. She was going to be just fine. It was a relatively simple surgery; one she'd done over a thousand times, but the patient being Abby made it one-hundred times harder than most every surgery she'd ever had to do. Once she closed, she rolled an unconscious Abby to the recovery room and double checked everything on the post-surgery list. Keeping her mind busy helped her not think about what kind of person who would harm her friend. She sat down next to Abby's bed and rested her weary eyes for a few minutes, thinking of Abby's story and what she had to go through earlier that night.

Abby lay on the bed, her face a little black and blue from being hit a few times. There were visible bruises on her upper and lower arms as well as on her ribs and abdomen. There was especially a lot of bruising around Abby's knife wound and on her thighs. Dr. Corday wondered with disgust on her face, what Abby had to go through and if she had been raped. She shook her head and willed it not to be true. It couldn't be true, but they would know soon enough. The physical battle was nearly over, but Abby's emotional battle had not even begun.

_Thanks for all of the reviews!! I love them! I'm sorry for not bringing out the luby until now...but here it is! :D It couldn't be anything else! Please read and review!! _

_--soccergirlmich--_


	4. Chapter 4

The Moon Cries

Susan walked briskly to the elevator with a nervous uneasiness in her stomach. She pressed the up button tentatively and watched as it lit up and the sounds of the door opening filled her ears. She raised her head and slid in, trying to enter unnoticed to a couple of her colleagues already in the elevator. Susan had just heard that Abby was out of surgery and should be waking up any minute now. She was sure that Luka wasn't far behind her, so she tapped her foot a little impatiently. When the door opened, she took a deep breath and ambled to Abby's room, where she saw Corday standing outside.

"Elizabeth, how's she doing?" Susan's voice was soft. She put her hands in her white lab coat pockets as she listened for the answer.

"She should be waking up any minute now. Her vitals are stable and she seems to be moving right along in the post-surgical workups. She just needs to wake up now." Corday reported this like it was any other patient, but Susan knew that Elizabeth had to disassociate herself from this to do her job as well as she could.

"Good. Was she...." Susan didn't want to go on, and the graveness of her voice let Corday know what she was talking about.

"No. Thank goodness. I was afraid of that, but no." She smiled sadly to Susan. "Do you want to go in and see her?" Her accent was reassuring. Susan nodded and returned Elizabeth's sad smile. Corday opened the door for her and closed it behind her.

Abby was lying down on the bed with small oxygen tubes in her nose. Susan assumed that she had been extubated right after her surgery. She picked up Abby's chart and looked it over critically. They had repaired her lungs and kidney from the knife wound successfully. She nodded and sighed, relieved. There were no complications during surgery; it went perfectly. She set down the chart and proceeded to Abby's bed. Susan swallowed apprehensively as she looked at a sleeping Abby. Her face was swollen and bruised severely, especially around her eyes and jaw. Susan gritted her teeth angrily. She could see the large amount of bruising on her arms and she shook her head.

Abby's eyes fluttered open and she took a deep, rattling breath, looking around her. Susan gasped and rushed to her side, carefully grabbing her hand.

"Abby, you're awake." Susan waited patiently for Abby to take in her surroundings.

"Susan." Abby's voice was only a whisper; she couldn't fully speak as an effect of being intubated.

"Hey. How're you feeling?" Susan smiled at her, not quite sure how to talk to her.

"I'm alright. Where's my chart?" She strained to talk and tried clearing her throat in vain.

"It's over there. I can tell you everything that's on it, you know. You don't need to be straining yourself at all right now." Susan smiled wryly. Abby scrunched her eyes in pain and Susan looked on helplessly. "Do you need some more morphine?" As soon as she asked, Abby shook her head vigorously.

"Abby, you don't need to suffer. We have morphine." Still, Abby said no. Susan pursed her lips at Abby's stubborn nature. "Alright. The surgery went really well. They repaired your lungs and your kidney. You should recover quickly." Susan waited for Abby's reaction.

"That's not too bad, huh?" She smiled a little and then a flood of memories hit her like a truck. Her eyes went wide and she swallowed, almost crying. Abby saw the dying man in the SUV, his intestines spilling out of his body and the little boy with the gun to her head, threatening to kill her. Tears fell from her eyes as she felt the punches and kicks over and over again. She blinked and came back to the present, where Susan was trying to calm Abby down. Susan glanced at the heart monitor as it was rising too fast.

"Abby, Abby! I'm right here. You're alright....No one's going to hurt you." She grabbed Abby's face and forced her to look into her eyes. "Hey. You back?" Susan's concerned face appeared to Abby.

"Yeah..." Susan gritted her teeth and sighed.

"Don't scare me like that. You almost gave yourself a heart attack." Susan sat in a chair that she pulled up. "What happened to you?" She whispered this and it hung in the air, followed by a deafening silence. Susan watched as Abby's face turned from blank to fearful and in pain. Abby turned to Susan with a tortured stare.

"They took me." Abby whispered and squeezed her eyes tight. Susan dared not interrupt her. "They said they needed a doctor." Abby had a far-off glaze over her eyes as she relived her tragedy. "I went to help and they pulled me into their car. They wanted me to help this man who was shot. His name was CJ. I told them that we needed to get to a hospital to help him, but they wouldn't listen." Tears streamed from her eyes and Susan felt a pang in her heart as she listened to Abby's horrible story. "Little C was the one who had the gun. He was just a little kid. He and this other guy were yelling at me to save CJ...but I couldn't. His intestines were falling out and I had to push them in and sew him up with a needle and thread." She stopped, seeing it all over again. Susan's eyes were wide in horror as she listened to Abby's haunted voice.

"I told them that I needed to go to the bathroom so I could try and escape. CJ wasn't going to make it if we didn't get to a hospital so I had nearly given up on him. They drove into the woods instead and made me get out to go. Once I got back to CJ, he had stopped breathing and his heart stopped. I was doing CPR for at least an hour. I thought they were going to kill me. CJ died and the older one was really mad." She stopped again and closed her eyes tight. "I guess you know the rest." It seemed like she was holding her breath and she couldn't go on. Susan nodded, pulling out of Abby's story.

"I am so sorry, Abby." Susan's eyes were filled with tears and she leaned down to hug Abby, who let all of her tears out. "It's gonna be alright. They won't hurt you ever again." Susan gritted her teeth and promised this to her best friend and herself. There was no way anyone was going to hurt Abby again.

_Thank you guys for all of the wonderful reviews! :D This is the last day of my break and I'm not sure when I'll be able to update...but I'll try my best to update as soon as possible. The more reviews I get....the more motivated I am to find time to update!! :D Please Review!!!_

_--soccergirlmich--_


End file.
